I went to Al- Obeikan bookstore last night, just to browse the
Arabic books that they had there. It was a Wednesday night, and I had
nothing better to do. As I was looking around, I noticed something that
kinda annoyed me. It seemed that all of the women were in one section.
The section for books about "Al - Mar2ah O Al – Zawaaj / Women and marriage" (or something like that) , "Al – tajmeel / Beauty", and "8e9a9 ul a6faal /
Children stories". I say one section, because they were all right next to
each other. There were virtually, no women in the other sections (politics,
economics, environment, bestsellers, management, sciences, etc) of the bookstore.
Why did this annoy me? Because it was so stereotypical. Because as an observer , it made it look like all women care about (or should be caring about) , is marriage, kids, and beauty. Because it sort of confined me to one section of the bookstore. Why you might ask? Because every time I went to, or even got too close to any other "section", people looked at me like I was some kind of freak.
"What is she doing looking at these books?"
"Does she even know who Madeleine Albright is?"
"She's just trying to mix and mingle with men" said the zealots.
"What does she know about politics?" (Umm..not much, that's why she is looking. You read, to learn).
Slowly, I walked back to my "assigned" section. Since everyone else seemed to think that I had no business browsing anywhere else.
Once again, I felt defeated and inferior. And I'm tired of it. "Tired of what?" Tired of people putting limits on me because of my gender, that's what.
Again, Maybe I'm overreacting.
I should probably go off and put some more lip gloss on, now. I mean, that's what I'm supposed to be doing ..isn't it?
Arabic books that they had there. It was a Wednesday night, and I had
nothing better to do. As I was looking around, I noticed something that
kinda annoyed me. It seemed that all of the women were in one section.
The section for books about "Al - Mar2ah O Al – Zawaaj / Women and marriage" (or something like that) , "Al – tajmeel / Beauty", and "8e9a9 ul a6faal /
Children stories". I say one section, because they were all right next to
each other. There were virtually, no women in the other sections (politics,
economics, environment, bestsellers, management, sciences, etc) of the bookstore.
Why did this annoy me? Because it was so stereotypical. Because as an observer , it made it look like all women care about (or should be caring about) , is marriage, kids, and beauty. Because it sort of confined me to one section of the bookstore. Why you might ask? Because every time I went to, or even got too close to any other "section", people looked at me like I was some kind of freak.
"What is she doing looking at these books?"
"Does she even know who Madeleine Albright is?"
"She's just trying to mix and mingle with men" said the zealots.
"What does she know about politics?" (Umm..not much, that's why she is looking. You read, to learn).
Slowly, I walked back to my "assigned" section. Since everyone else seemed to think that I had no business browsing anywhere else.
Once again, I felt defeated and inferior. And I'm tired of it. "Tired of what?" Tired of people putting limits on me because of my gender, that's what.
Again, Maybe I'm overreacting.
I should probably go off and put some more lip gloss on, now. I mean, that's what I'm supposed to be doing ..isn't it?
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